You Remember
by theconsultingtimelady
Summary: Hermione goes to Australia to find her parents and remove the memory charms she cast.


The Battle of Hogwarts was over. They had won. They had won, with great cost. In one night, they had lost so many.

Hermione sighed and leaned back into Ron. They had finally gotten together. She had to smile at that. Seven years of waiting and they'd finally kissed each other. Wait until she told her mother…

"My parents!" she gave a startled shriek. Ron jumped up, wand in hand.

"'Mione?"

"Ron, I'll be back," she said, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. She loved being able to do that. He relaxed a bit, but remained confused. "There's something I have to do."

She stepped away from him and Apparated.

* * *

Hermione appeared in front of a small house in Australia. She hoped that she had got it right. It would take ages to find them if they had decided to live somewhere else.

After she had performed the necessary memory charms on her parents, she had left a print-out for this house on the kitchen table. With any luck, they'd be there.

Her chest tightened as she walked up to the door. It had been almost a year since she had seen them. She reached up with a shaking hand and pressed the doorbell.

A minute later, the door opened. It was her mother.

"Mu-" Hermione bit her lip. "Monica Wilkins?"

"Yes?" she said expectantly.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger," she said, her voice strengthening. "I'm from the city council. We're conducting a survey to see if you have any complaints."

"Oh, all right," her mother replied, holding open the door. "Come in."

Hermione walked inside the house. It was so strange, being welcomed into her parents' house as if she was a stranger. But then, she was a stranger to them.

They walked into the sitting room and Mrs. Granger gestured to a seat. Hermione sat down gratefully.

"How long have you been living here, Mrs. Wilkins?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Almost 10 months," Mrs. Granger replied back cheerfully. "Wendell and I finally decided to move to Australia. Life long dream of ours."

"What made you decide to move?"

"Um…" Hermione was beginning to see certain gaps in her enchantments. She sighed with relief and berated herself at the same time. It would make it easier to undo, she granted herself that. But had the Death Eaters found them, she wasn't sure how well the charms would have held.

"Do you have any children, Mrs. Wilkins?" Hermione prompted. Mrs. Granger looked relieved at the change in topic.

"No, none," she replied. "I always wanted a daughter, but Wendell and I just…We don't have any children."

"I see," Hermione nodded. "Will your husband be home soon?"

"I expect so," Mrs. Granger replied. "Why?"

"I'd like to survey you both, if that's all right."

"That's perfectly fine. Now I did have a couple of things I'd like the city to know about…"

Hermione sat for a half hour, listening to her mother chatter on about the pothole down the road and the rowdy teenagers at the end of the block that threw loud parties at night.

"Shouldn't you be writing this down in a complaints form?" her mother asked suddenly.

"I usually fill out the forms after I've done my interviews," Hermione lied quickly.

"You must have a very good memory," Mrs. Granger said and Hermione winced at the choice of words.

Suddenly, the door opened and Mr. Granger walked through.

"Hello Monica!" he called cheerfully, pausing to take off his long overcoat. "Hectic day at the office. Jones decided that he wanted all of our reports filed by the end of the day. I'm lucky that I've been keeping a bit ahead."

He hung up his coat and turned around to see Hermione, who had risen at the sight of her dad.

"And who's this?" he asked curiously.

"She's with the city," her mother explained, rising to greet her husband. "She's conducting a survey."

"Oh, pleasure to meet you," Mr. Granger said, crossing the room. "I'm Wendell Wilkins."

"Hermione Granger," she replied tightly, extending her hand to shake. It was so hard, acting so polite and distant when all she really wanted to do was jump into her parents arms.

"Hermione?" he said, shaking her hand. "That's an unusual name. I believe it's Shakespeare."

"It is," Hermione replied. "The Winter's Tale."

"It's nice," he said, returning to his wife's side.

"Yes," Hermione said quietly as she pulled out her wand. "It's a wonderful name."

She pointed her wand at her father.

"Stupefy!" she cried out. Her father crumpled to the ground. Her mother had little time to react. "Stupefy!"

Her parents lay on the ground, side by side. Hermione smiled a little and rolled up her sleeves.

"See you soon, Mum and Dad," she said hopefully.

* * *

An hour later, Mr. and Mrs. Granger began to stir. Hermione stood over them expectantly. She was tired. She had been casting for almost the full hour and she still wasn't sure if it would be enough.

She crouched down beside her parents, not daring to hope for too much.

"Hello," she said tentatively. "Um…are you feeling all right?"

Her mother blinked twice, her eyes unsteady.

"Hermione Jean Granger, what am I doing on the floor?" she asked crossly.

Hermione sighed with relief.

"Dad?"

"Where am I?" he asked as he sat up, the confusion clear in his eyes. "Hermione, what's going on?"

"Oh, thank you," she said, not really sure who she was thanking. She threw herself at her parents, wrapping her arms around them so tightly that they thought she would never let go.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" her mother asked immediately. "What's happened? Why are you so happy?"

"You remember," she said simply.

* * *

First Harry Potter fanfiction. The scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 where Hermione performs the Memory Charm on her parents is one of my favorites. The score in that scene is absolutely beautiful. It's never clear when and how Hermione finds her parents and removes her enchantments, it's left very vague, so I thought it'd be nice to see her reverse her spells on them. Thanks for reading!


End file.
